Successful treatment of skin wounds such as severe burns has involved the use of fresh cadaveric skin homografts as temporary biological covering for the skin wound. The temporary covering decreases fluid and protein loss, prevents or controls infection, and enhances regeneration of new skin tissue. However, homograft skin is not readily available and has a short shelf life.
Porcine skin has been found to be a satisfactory substitute for human skin. The cost of fresh porcine heterograft is as high as $20 per square foot, and it has been demonstrated that the recipient is sometimes sensitized to porcine antigens.
Thus, there has been strong stimulus to develop suitable synthetic substitutes for fresh homograft and heterograft skin in the treatment of burns and other skin wounds. Investigations with a variety of prosthetic materials have demonstrated that none of the synthetic skin compositions developed are completely satisfactory as substitutes for homograft and heterograft skin.
Some recent U.S. patents disclose synthetic biological dressing compositions which have been developed. U.S. Pat. No. 3,526,224 describes an occlusive dressing which is a laminate of a polyurethane film and a sheet of knitted velour fabric. U.S. Pat. No. 3,648,692 describes a medical-surgical dressing which has a porous laminated construction including a facing layer of open-cell foam material and a coextensive microporous backing.
Clinical tests have shown that all of the synthetic biological dressings developed have various disadvantages as compared to homograft and heterograft skin in treatment of burns and the like.
Thus, it is a main object of the present invention to overcome the shortcomings of known synthetic dressing materials by the provision of a synthetic skin composition which is thin, flexible, elastomeric and conformable; and prevents excessive loss of body fluids, serves as a matrix for growth of fibroblasts and capillaries, and adheres securely to wound areas as a semi-permanent replacement for damaged skin.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description and accompanying drawing.